I’ve Never Paid a Luggage Fee in My Life

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Why would anyone in their right mind pay a baggage fee when they're so easy to avoid?

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When I read last week that Spirit Airlines has raised its baggage fees again and now has 24 different fees for luggage, my first thought was: Why would anyone in their right mind fly an airline that charges for carry-on bags? My next thought: Why would anyone in their right mind pay any airline baggage fee at all? I never have, nor has anyone in my family, and that’s because they’re easy enough to avoid. Here are three ways to do so:

The Citi Platinum Select AAdvantage World Mastercard covers you and up to four people traveling with you on American Airlines. The Gold Delta SkyMiles American Express card covers you and up to nine companions when you fly Delta. The United MileagePlus Explorer Visa card covers you and one companion when you fly United. All three offer 30,000 bonus miles (remember, that’s 60,000 if your spouse gets a card too), and the $95 annual fee is waived the first year. Note: I am by no means suggesting that you do all your credit-card spending with these cards or even use them as your main card. Rather, I'm suggesting you try one of them for a year—for free—just for its travel benefits (the free bags, the priority boarding, and, in the case of the United Explorer card, the two airport club passes). When it comes to spending, overseas you definitely want to put your spending on a card that waives foreign transaction fees—and, of these three cards, only the United Explorer card does.